Marriage still for life, most people believe

A worldwide survey of 25,000 people from 46 countries has found that 70
per cent of people still believe that marriage should last for life,
with Catholics and Muslims in Asia heading the poll.

According
to the Valentine's Day survey released by global research firm AC
Nielsen this week, Indonesians were the keenest on marriage for life, News.com.au reports.

The
survey showed that 97 per cent of them believed in the concept,
followed closely by Turks at 92 per cent as well as Filipinos and
Malays, both 89 per cent.

In the Western world, Americans were
the strongest believers in marrying for life, while Europeans from
Catholic and conservative countries showed an unexpected lack of
enthusiasm for the concept.

"Record high divorce statistics
combined with rising co-habitation rates and an increasing number of
children born to common-law couples in the past 10 years have certainly
made the western world wonder if the age-old concept of "to have and to
hold till death to us part" is fast becoming a dying tradition," AC
Nielsen Europe President Patrick Dodd said.

Less than half of Europeans polled said that marriage is one of their lifetime goals.

Instead of marriage, 77 per cent of Europeans said a stable, long-term relationship is as good as marriage.

Mr
Dodd said that across Europe, especially western Europe, for the first
time in history women are chasing careers instead of husbands and
valuing independence over marriage as a life-long ambition.

"And
the majority of men in these countries are in agreement too. There
appears to be an equal rejection of the traditional concept of marriage
across both sexes," he said.

Interestingly, more American men believed in the marriage for life concept than American women.